$349.99 for a Athlon XP 3000+ nForce system.... AR

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: peacemaker1ps
I guess they raised up the price.
It's 399.99 after rebate.

its still 349.99 after rebate.

there's two rebates.

the first is 200 bucks from radio shack.

the 2nd is for 50 bucks from compaq.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Radio Shack $200 Mail-In Rebate, purchase period July 29th through August 22nd.
Compaq $50 Mail-In Rebate, purchase period July 4th through October 2nd.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Sweet! I was getting ready to build a system for my Dad, but this is a much better deal. I have some extra PC2700 sitting around to throw in - I'll just get rid of the usual Compaq bloatware and it should be a helluva system for him. I just went and picked up what appears to be the last one within the Tacoma local area.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

FYI, this PC comes with some pretty nice Infineon RAM, which I stole for my own system (I put 512MB of slower Kingston Value in it). It really is a kickin' little system once you pull off all the crappy software it comes with.

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: Monotaur

Originally posted by: hytek369

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Dos with a windows 3.11 coupon









Windows XP .... Duh...

hehe

It was a stupid question... so let it die, ok?

It was not a stupid question. Is it XP Home or XP Pro? Makes a HUGE difference to me.

 

[PuvMan]

has anyone bought there's from a store and opened it? Does it have an SPDIF output???


thanks!

puv
=)

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

It was not a stupid question. Is it XP Home or XP Pro? Makes a HUGE difference to me.

It's Home, not surprisingly. I wouldn't really expect Pro on a consumer PC with this kind of price.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: PuvMan
has anyone bought there's from a store and opened it? Does it have an SPDIF output???

thanks!

puv
=)

I did buy one, but I replaced the RAM, installed and uninstalled some software, and sent it off to my Dad as a gift. I don't believe it has an SPDIF output, but honestly I can't swear it doesn't.

 

[rhacquer]

ROFLMAO!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

One oddity with the system was that there were two screws (the kind that secure PCI/AGP cards) rattling around inside the case. Fortunately they didn't damage anything.

 

[woodscomp]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Here are the Specs with a pic of the board


It says it has the MCP2-T southbridge so it should have soundstorm, but it does not say it does.
The board is a ASUS A7N8X-LA if that helps.

Scroll down a 1/4 of the page and if you read it would tell you......

Audio
Realtek ALC650

Six channel configurable

Built-in HP amplifier


Dell is a better deal for performance when it is available.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: woodscomp

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Here are the Specs with a pic of the board


It says it has the MCP2-T southbridge so it should have soundstorm, but it does not say it does.
The board is a ASUS A7N8X-LA if that helps.

Scroll down a 1/4 of the page and if you read it would tell you......

Audio
Realtek ALC650

Six channel configurable

Built-in HP amplifier


Dell is a better deal for performance when it is available.

The 650 is the output chip for the sound that is controlled by the southbridge (MCP-T)

And please show me a dell for $349 that has everything this has that is equal in perfromance.

:roll:

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
And please show me a dell for $349 that has everything this has that is equal in perfromance.

The build quality remains a factor. The PowerEdge server line machines are extremely well made, and use rather high quality components (including high quality cooling). The price to value ratio would be slightly higher than compared to this particular Compaq model.

Both machines are however a good value. The end choice should depends greatly on the individual user's needs, of course. Having personal experience with both lines, I would choose the 400SC over this machine - but again, merely personal preference.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
And please show me a dell for $349 that has everything this has that is equal in perfromance.

The build quality remains a factor. The PowerEdge server line machines are extremely well made, and use rather high quality components (including high quality cooling). The price to value ratio would be slightly higher than compared to this particular Compaq model.

Both machines are however a good value. The end choice should depends greatly on the individual user's needs, of course. Having personal experience with both lines, I would choose the 400SC over this machine - but again, merely personal preference.

It seems to me the machines are really not competitors, since the 400SC starts life as a server. When I tried to price a comparably-equipped 400SC it ran into a lot more money. This Compaq has an Asus mobo and Infineon RAM, and the rest of the components are branded and seem fine. It's certainly not a power user's system, but IMO it offers tremendous value.

 

[unclebud]

pretty good deal. thanks for posting!!!

 

[silverbullet555]

I picked one of these up this evening, but have two questions. THe last time I build a computer PC133 was just coming out. I want to add mroe memory. do I need to match brands or just make sure I go with PC2700 or better. Also, to clean the bloatware off the machine do I need to format the drive and start over or is there a better way.

Thanks for any tips.

 

[woodscomp]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: woodscomp

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Here are the Specs with a pic of the board


It says it has the MCP2-T southbridge so it should have soundstorm, but it does not say it does.
The board is a ASUS A7N8X-LA if that helps.

Scroll down a 1/4 of the page and if you read it would tell you......

Audio
Realtek ALC650

Six channel configurable

Built-in HP amplifier


Dell is a better deal for performance when it is available.

The 650 is the output chip for the sound that is controlled by the southbridge (MCP-T)

And please show me a dell for $349 that has everything this has that is equal in perfromance.

:roll:

Wrong on the sound there Marlin. It is a Realtek ALC650 Chipset Audio. It is a cheaper approach for the manufatcure to use than the Nvidia solutions. There will not be any Nvidia sound on this machine. And if you scroll a little further down the page and take a look at the fuzzy diagram of the board it shows the Audio Codec chip in the lower left hand corner. Nvidia sound solutions are usually in the motherboard chipsets not on a separate audio chip.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: silverbullet555
I picked one of these up this evening, but have two questions. THe last time I build a computer PC133 was just coming out. I want to add mroe memory. do I need to match brands or just make sure I go with PC2700 or better. Also, to clean the bloatware off the machine do I need to format the drive and start over or is there a better way.

Thanks for any tips.

You don't need to match brands on the RAM. The PC comes with pretty nice Infineon RAM, and so if you need 512 MB, it may be more cost-effective to sell the Infineon on eBay and buy one 512 MB stick of something like Kingston Value.

The computer doesn't have THAT much bloatware, actually. I was able to deep-six pretty much all of it by eliminating it from the Startup folder and uninstalling it.

 

[silverbullet555]

Thanks much. I'll be looking at that tomorrow when I set it up. Hopefully some good deals on RAM will pop-up in tomorrows ads.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

looks like its now $399 after $200 MIR now.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX
looks like its now $399 after $200 MIR now.

From above:

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Radio Shack $200 Mail-In Rebate, purchase period July 29th through August 22nd.
Compaq $50 Mail-In Rebate, purchase period July 4th through October 2nd.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: silverbullet555
I picked one of these up this evening, but have two questions. THe last time I build a computer PC133 was just coming out. I want to add mroe memory. do I need to match brands or just make sure I go with PC2700 or better. Also, to clean the bloatware off the machine do I need to format the drive and start over or is there a better way.

Thanks for any tips.

You don't need to match brands on the RAM. The PC comes with pretty nice Infineon RAM, and so if you need 512 MB, it may be more cost-effective to sell the Infineon on eBay and buy one 512 MB stick of something like Kingston Value.

The computer doesn't have THAT much bloatware, actually. I was able to deep-six pretty much all of it by eliminating it from the Startup folder and uninstalling it.

Actually if you want 512mb then its better to get another slab of 256mb as 2 slabs will put the system in Dual Ch. mem. setup and really improve the video card.
If you are not to worried about 3D game play then a single slab will be fine.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Actually if you want 512mb then its better to get another slab of 256mb as 2 slabs will put the system in Dual Ch. mem. setup and really improve the video card.
If you are not to worried about 3D game play then a single slab will be fine.

Thanks for the tip. I am far from being an AMD guru, so I should have kept my mouth shut. On the bright side, this system will never, ever be used for gaming (my Dad's 64), so it should be fine with one stick.

 

[NumberCruncher]

I just picked one up for $289+tax (AR) yesterday!!

I was all set to get it for $349 AR, but then they asked me if I'd like a Radio Shack credit card and I would get 10% off my first purchase. I sadi sure -- and they took off $60 (10% of 599.99)

Never thought I'd buy a computer at Radio Shack and never thought I'd buy a compaq ..oh well. It's actually a pretty nice system. Nforce2 with an open AGP slot. It had 1 256MB stick of Hynix pc2700 ram. I needed a gig (for my work), so Iwent to BestBuy and got 2 512MB sticks for $130 AR (89.99-25 rebate for Kbyte..I think they have a different deal today). Now I've got a 256MB stick just sitting around..

Anyway, it's actually quick to boot and feels anything but underpowered. Of course, you'd need to pop a card in the AGP slot if you want to game or something, but otherwise pretty nice. It also has front and rear firewire and USB2 (lots on the back, one on the front) and it's got one of the 7 in 1 memory card readers as well....

Overall, I'd have to say this was a great deal.

 

[thrunner]

How are Radio Shack and HP rebates?

I am not sure if the first $200 rebate is from HP or Radio Shack, both rebates are going to Arizona addresses (HP).

I noticed my HP rebate for $50 was rejected online:

HP rebate for the SR1012NX

Email HP for rebate help:
HP rebates